Anyone on the giving up smoking train?

[chippy47]

Day 2 and the cravings are driving me insane -even with a patch.

I've cut down,and I'm teetering on the edge of kicking it .

Well done you on day 2!

Mentally i do not think I am ready -still perversely enjoy it -but for the sake of DP and 2DC and getting back some control -and like most smokers know all about the health benefits (which hasn't stopped me smoking for the last 18 years). Hoping to get to the hating stage as quick as possible without turning into a rabid anti-smoker.

I am doing some serious thinking about it does that count

I have got the Allen Carr dvd which I know has worked for others but I am twitchy just thinking about it .

the responses are highly motivating. thanks

I gave up this time last year - after 25 years (ouch. it stll scares me to see that written down. I was in such denial)

You CAN do it.
It IS worth it.

I went for lozenges when i stopped. I loved them

I am celelbrating my first ever winter without a chest infection.

i think i would have been a bit mad without the inhalator (and patches). it just takes the edge of those cravings, though everyone is different.

how you getting on depechemodefan?

monday is D day,

I am on day 10 now - having given up for three years, I started again a couple of years ago , gave up for 11 weeks last year, and now simply HAVE to do it! Am on patches and inhalator this time and actually feeling ok. Had shingles last week whcih was miserable and got back to work to mega stress but managed to resist. the hardest time for me id first thing in the morning which my dh finds quite sickening!! Remember, a craving only lasts a few minutes, so keeping busy will help the time go quicker when they hit!

carrot sticks are your friend

do you giver uppers want the occasional ex-smoker to come and boss you about gently encourage you?

I gave up just over a year ago after 25 odd years of loving the fags. They were both my hobby and my friends

I recommend lozenges, ice cubes and jelly babies/haribos (am I allowed to say the H word on mn??) (no good for vegetarians tho)

like Molly, this is the first winter for 26 years I haven't had a racking two month cough. It is so so worth it. I never thought I'd say that, let alone believe it, but tis true

good luck, all of yers

Been 5 yrs since i gave up!!

Stick with it

Hi chippy and everyone else on the giving up smoking train. I have cut and pasted below my two penceworth (which I put on another giving up smoking thread recently) in the hope that some of it might be useful to some of you. Good luck to you all:

"I found having something else to do as a distraction was very helpful.

I did sudoku, crosswords, jigsaws, tidied drawers, did meal plans, rearranged things around the house, watered the plants - anything to keep busy for a few minutes.

Strong sweets are helpful. I am particularly fond of aniseed sweets like cough candy.

As everyone else says, the first few days are the hardest. From now on it just gets easier and easier (with the odd blip).

I gave up 16 months ago and just lately I've had a couple of dreams where I have been smoking. It has honestly been such a relief to wake up in the morning and realise I haven't gone back to smoking and I am still lovely and smoke-free.

Keep going!!!"

I am still thinking about it . Has anybody else done the Allen Carr thing ? Or do you think that patches and inhalaters are needed . I really don't want to do this half arsed , if I am going to give up I think I need all the help I can get .

Is it worth talking to gp ? I do have a lovely one if that makes a difference .

Yes, I recommend Allen Carr. He makes you see that you are not GIVING UP something, you are GAINING something. Life will be BETTER. You will be HAPPIER. And apart from a few pesky cravings (which go after a few minutes) it is EASY.

Sorry to shout but I know that smokers don't want to hear that message!

Thank you Bibbity , that is what I NEED to hear .

I did an Alan Carr seminar but got it as a freebie so maybe did not take it as seriously as I should have done -read the book about 5 times -it makes perfect sense but could never make the leap from theory to practice. Day 3 and the patches are working ok -still getting the cravings at the usual times (most of the day) -it would be easy to have one right now but it is time to take the harder road. Basically I know I still love it and having one now would be fantastic but so wrong. Arghhhhh.
Focusing on my health and being around for my kids in 10-20 years. I would love to be the oap who smoked 80 a day for 70 years and has never been ill etc etc - deep down I know this is propaganda from the smoking industry -reality is cancer -of numerous parts of the body. Not worth it for a quick fix 20 times a day. Have now saved £18.99!

Alan carr worked for me the time before last.
I realised what a bitch i was to my kids when they got in the way of me having a fag. (I hid it from them) so if they appeared unexpectedly when I was just about to spark one up, I would rip their heads off

The key thing for me was changing all my routines (like having a fag just before I left for work) so I made myself sit and have breakfast while watching the news instead, or something.

roffle at "the time before last"

reminds me of sitting in a pub a couple of weeks after ds was born, excitedly listing the benefits of hypnosis as an aid to giving up

...while rolling two on me knee- one for now, one for the bus stop

I have several 'times before last'. It reminds me of the saying 'it's easy to stop smoking...I've done it hundreds of times'